Pari-mutuel visual audit apparatus



Aug. 17, 1954 Filed May 5, 1950 F. BEARD 2,686,599

PARI-MUTUEL VISUAL AUDIT APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR.

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Aug. 17, 1954 F. BEARD 2,686,599

PARI-MUTUEL VISUAL AUDIT APPARATUS Filed May 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Fed flea/"0 At forneqas.

Patented Aug. 17, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PARI-MUTUEL VISUAL AUDIT APPARATUS I Fred Beard, Dearborn, Mich.

Application May 5, 1950, SerialNo. 160,377

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to pari-mutuel visualaudit apparatus by which race track wagering can be supervised and cheating avoided. Pari-mutuel wagering is legalized in many States. In this form of wagering on horse and dog races there are several forms of Wagering pools, namely, the Daily- Double, Quiniela, Win, Place, and Show. The horses and dogs in each race are given a number. Let us suppose the entries are limited to eight in each race. In the Quiniela pool tickets are sold for combinations of two horses or dogs. There are twenty-eight possible combinations with eight entries. In the Daily-Double the combination of numbers of entries in two separate races are sold; in the Win pool the wagerer buys a ticket for a single entry to win; in the Place pool the wagerer buys a single ticket for one entry to either win or run second; in the Show pool the wagerer buys a ticket for a single entry to Win, run second, or run third; in the Combination ticket the wagerer buys a ticket for one entry to win, and one entry to win or run second, and one entry to win, run second, or run third. In other words, this Combination ticket is equivalent to buying three tickets on one entry, one in the Win pool, one in the Place pool, and one in the Show pool. Such 9. Combination ticket sells for three times the price of any one ticket for these three separate pools.

The way the races are customarily run where a totalizer is not used is to have one or more separate windows for each pool through which the tickets for that pool are sold. In pari-mutuel wagering the odds given out before the race are the estimated odds and the payoff is not in accordance with these odds. The payoff is determined by the total intake for the pool for the one race, less a certain percentage which varies in different States and which covers the tax that is payable and the percentage of profit that is allowed the race track owners or concessionaire. The windows are closed usually about three minutes before the race is started. The various trays containing the tickets for the several pools are brought into the calculators room where the calculators, after the race is run, determine the payoif of the winning tickets. The payoif is calculated on this basis: the total intake in each pool is ascertained; then the number of tickets that have been sold which are the winning tickets is ascertained; the total intake on the pool is then subjected to a percentage deduction to take care of the taxes and the profit of the persons who control the race track or own the concession.

The balance is divided among the purchasers of the winning tickets in that pool. The ascertainment of the number of winning tickets sold is for checkers or the calculators to observe the top ticket in the winning ticket cell of each tray of each vendor of the pool. For instance, if the top ticket is in the winning ticket cell of one vendors tray, the calculator knows that 75 tickets have already been sold because the tickets at the top begin with zero. If in the second ticket vendors tray the top winning ticket is 50, the calculator knows that there have been winning tickets sold if there are only two vendors in that pool. Hence, the total intake, less the deduction, is then divided by 125 and this is the payoff. This is the pari-mutuel system which has been legalized in many States because-it is an honest wagering system. The controller of the race track or concessionaire is simply supervising a mutuel pool and is paid a profit for this supervision.

When a mechanical totalizer is used the tickets are issued from this totalizer and this serves to totalize automatically the tickets sold from each roll of tickets and the total is recorded for the benefit of the calculators.

It is the object of my visual-audit apparatus to provide a display case with swinging shelves in which the ticket trays may be inserted after the windows have closed and just before the race. These shelves can be rotated from a horizontal position of loading to a near-vertical but slightly overlapping position for the purpose of exposing to view the tickets that still remain in the trays after the windows have been closed. These rotating shelves can be rotated and exposed in a display window which is convenient for any attendant of the race to check the odds after the race has been run by adding up the tickets that have been sold in each pool, subtracting the tax and the profit of the owners or operators, then dividing the take, less these deductions, by the number of tickets sold.

Another feature of my apparatus is that the whole shelf frame together with its shelves can be lowered backward to horizontal position and a photograph taken of the ticket display so as to form a permanent record to file away for future use and to aiford a check for tax collectors, if this is desirable.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical section of the display case with the pivoted shelves in horizontal position and with the trays in place.

Fig. 2 is a similar section showing the shelves 3 located in overlapping position to display the trays with the tickets.

Fig. 3 is a front fragmentary elevation showing how the tickets are exposed for visual audit.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section showing a modified form of the invention in which the trays can be turned up to a true vertical nonoverlapping position.

Fig. is a view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section showing how the supporting frame and the trays may be dropped down to the dotted line position for photographing the same for a permanent record.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the display case showing how the tickets remaining unsold can be seen through the glass.

The display case is provided with a housing I having an opening 2 and which is supported by the frame 3. This frame 3 pivotally supports the rotating shelves 3 on pivots 5. The pivots 5 engage wings c that are secured to the bottom of the shelves 6. Each shelf is provided with a turned up flange l at the rear and turned up catches 6 at the front. These catches 8 at the front have a turned over ear Q which support and retain the trays in the shelves when they are turned up to the near vertical position as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. When, by means of the shifting bar ii, the catches catch the ticket trays it at the corners and serve to retain the trays without covering up the ticket numbers which it is important to expose so that the auditor can see the ticket numbers on top to check the number of tickets sold.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 4, the pivot pins 5 are spaced further apart and the shelves are provided with downwardly turned flanges 12 which are adapted to engage the tray below to hold the tickets and the trays from falling out when the whole line of shelves have been turned up to the vertical position. In this arrangement, by reason of the wider spacing of the pivots and the retaining flanges, the shelves and the tickets will be supported in a vertical position as shown in Fig. 6 where the display frame 5 supports a light i3 and a light l4 at the bottom. These are preferably of the elongated fluorescent bulb type of light. The glass 55 shields the trays but allows one to inspect them.

I find it desirable to have the shelf retaining frame which is pivoted at is capable of being turned back to the dotted line position at H where the trays and tickets may be photographed by a camera 18 with the aid of the lights i9 and 26. This will provide a permanent record that may be filed away for future reference by the owners of the concession, or can be shown to the tax collectors when they check the taxes due from the operators.

The above described apparatus forms a sure check on the honesty of the betting calculations without the expense of costly pari-mutuel machines, the royalties on which are a heavy charge on the operators.

What I claim is:

Apparatus for displaying for audit the unsold wagering tickets of a race, having in combination a housing comprising a frame supported in said housing, a plurality of shelves pivoted in said frame to be rotated through an are from substantialiy a horizontal position, where the shelves may be loaded with trays of unsold tickets, to a vertical or near vertical position where the trays may be exposed for visual inspection to check the take and the number of tickets sold from each pool, a Wing secured to the bottom and each end of each shelf, and an upright bar pivoted to the wings one at each end for actuating the wings in unison for swinging the shelves from the horizontal position to the vertical position and vice versa.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 122,855 Rudiger Jan. 16, 1872 435,470 Weston Sept. 2, 1890 417,942 Kelso June 28, 1892 782,439 Downie Feb. 14, 1905 874,301 Cedarburg Dec. 1'7, 1,269,208 Ohde June 11, 1918 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 9,269 Netherlands Mar. 11, 1901 386,867 France June 25, 1908 502,390 Germany July 10, 1930 

